Friday, March 28, 2008

Tabat Scholarship for Students of Liturgy - 2008

Image hosted by Photobucket.comBelow is an announcement for a $1000 scholarship for those participating in graduate studies in liturgy. In 2003, I was awarded the Tabat scholarship which helped me in my studies at St. John's University, School of Theology, in Collegeville, Minnesota. The scholarship has been awarded every year since 2002 by the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions, a national organization made up of the diocesan commissions of the United States that collaborate with the US Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy--that is, it was awarded each year except for the one year that NO ONE applied!

This is FREE money, and if I know graduate students, especially graduate liturgy students, you can use all the free money you can get! So apply. You just might be pleasantly surprised.

I encourage those of you who have a vocation to serve the Church as parish liturgy directors to explore pursuing an advanced degree in liturgy, theology, or liturgical studies. We are blessed to have Santa Clara University, the Graduate Theological Union, and the University of San Francisco in our own backyard. All of these offer advanced degrees in the field of liturgy or theology.

Some other schools to consider that offer graduate degrees in liturgy are St. John's University in Minnesota, Chicago Theological Union, University of Notre Dame in Indiana, the Catholic University of America, and Washington Theological Union, both in Washington, DC. Some of these and many other schools throughout the country also offer summer-only programs or online courses to help you complete a graduate degree on your own schedule. Some even offer full or partial scholarships for laypersons pursuing graduate studies in liturgy or ministry.

Contact me if you want to talk about what it's like to do graduate studies in liturgy.

The Tabat Scholarship

Sister Joan Tabat, a School Sister of St. Francis, was a pioneer and a tireless worker for liturgical renewal. She held numerous musical and liturgical credentials and was a well-respected and honored member of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM). Most of all, Sister Joan excelled in the day-to-day pursuit of excellence as a pastoral musician. She had an amazing ability to bring out the music in people. Oblivious to conservative or progressive titles, Sr. Joan was driven by a deep wisdom and love for the church and commitment to the principles of Vatican II. Sr. Joan died in an automobile accident on September 25, 2000.

A grant of $1,000 in honor of Sr. Joan Tabat, SSSF, will be awarded at the national meeting of the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions in Milwaukee in October, 2008. The purpose of the grant is to provide assistance with the purchase of books, the continuation of research, or the payment of tuition.

The Tabat scholarship is awarded to a student pursuing a graduate degree in a program of liturgical studies to prepare for service in the Church of the United States in an academic, diocesan, or parish setting.

Applicants should send the following to the FDLC National Office, 415 Michigan Avenue, NE, Suite 70, Washington DC 20017 (nationaloffice@fdlc.org) no later than June 30, 2008:
  1. A curriculum vitae;
  2. A short description of how the grant will be used;
  3. Two letters of recommendation, in a sealed envelope, from professors or from someone knowledgeable about the person's work.

Download a pdf flyer of the scholarship information by clicking the link below.



Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Catechumenate Support Group - April 3, 2008

Did you survive it?! I saw seven baptisms last Saturday, and it was glorious!

But as you know, we're not done yet. We still have the period of post-baptismal catechesis and mystagogy to help keep our neophytes well-tended to and strong.

At our next Catechumenate Support Group, let's look back on the year and evaluate our parish catechumenate processes. What do we need to be planning for now to improve for next year? What worked well this year that we want to replicate next year? What would you have changed in your process and rites if you had known what you know now?

Everyone who attends the meeting will receive a FREE article on how to upgrade your RCIA. Get some practical answers to these and your other questions at the next Catechumenate Support Group Meeting.


Catechumenate Support Group Meeting
"What I Would Have Done Differently"

Thursday, April 3, 2008
7:00p – 8:30p


Saint Christopher Parish, Msgr. Allen Center
2278 Booksin Avenue, San José 95125
RSVP with Bernard Nemis at 408-983-0126
or online here


Other Catechumenate Support Group dates for the year:
  • Thursday, June 5, 2008, 7:00p – 8:30p, potluck dinner, Saint Albert the Great, Palo Alto canceled

Faithful Citizenship Workshop – April 3, 2008

You are most cordially invited…

To all parish staff, parish social justice liaisons, community leaders and friends, lay ministers, ILM students, and ALL justice advocates – everyone:

I would like to call your attention to a workshop that is timely and important.

During this election year, the Council of Priests, the office for Evangelization, Justice and Peace of the Office for Pastoral Ministry and the Vicar for Clergy office are co-sponsoring workshops for clergy and laity on the document “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States”, issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. It is a timely document that calls every Catholic to prepare for the upcoming presidential election by reflecting on forming consciences for faithful citizenship. It poses challenging questions and offers a framework for responding to the political questions of our day.
This day will be presented by Dr. Stephen Colecchi, director of the Office of International Justice and Peace of the USCCB, where he coordinates USCCB policy on international issues. Dr. Colecchi holds a doctorate in ministry from St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore. A prolific author in the area of Catholic social teachings, social justice and political responsibility and the infusion of Catholic social teaching into Christian education programs, he is the author of A Leader’s Guide to Sharing Catholic Social Teaching and In the Footsteps of Jesus, a Parish Resource Manual.
The workshop will be held on Thursday, April 3, 2008, at Our Lady of Peace Family Learning Center, Santa Clara.
Dr. Colecchi has made himself available to us for the following sessions:
  • 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. – Presentation on the Middle East situation and the War in Iraq
  • 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. – Faithful Citizenship Workshop
He will also be doing a morning presentation for the priests, deacons, and seminarians of the diocese. The bishop has urged their attendance.
Click here for a printable flyer.
For more information, see http://www.faithfulcitizenship.org/.

Thank you.
Linda Batton

Sunday Reflections and Social Ministry - Catholic Charities

Many of you in San José will know Elizabeth Lilly from liturgical, catechumenate, justice, and pastoral circles. She is now more actively working with parishes to help them foster and support their justice activities through her role with Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County. Because she is a liturgist at the core, she has been working on helping parishes make the connection between liturgy and justice clearer. Part of her motivation comes from the United States Bishops’ 1993 document, Communities of Salt and Light: Reflections on the Social Mission of the Parish.
The most important setting for the Church’s social teaching is not in a food pantry or in a legislative committee room, but in prayer and worship, especially gathered around the altar for the Eucharist. It is in the liturgy that we find the fundamental direction, motivation, and strength for social ministry. Social ministry not genuinely rooted in prayer can easily burn itself out. On the other hand, worship that does not reflect the Lord’s call to conversion, service, and justice can become pious ritual and empty of the Gospel.
Below is a sample bulletin reflection she offers that you can use each week that connects God’s story found in the Sunday readings with our story found in the real-life events of a person affected by the work of Catholic Charities and gives information on how you can become part of this story by proclaiming the Gospel in concrete ways in Santa Clara County.

Get the entire collection of reflections for Easter 2008 as a Word doc by clicking the graphic below.



Permission is given to download and reprint for your parishes and communities.


Sunday Reflections and Social Ministry
Easter – 2008

For weekly bulletins, faith sharing groups, prayer at meetings, bible study, lectors, outreach actions…anywhere the word of God calls us to act with charity and justice. Community and Parish Partnerships Elizabeth Lilly, 408-325-5262, elilly [at] ccsj [dot] org.

March 31, 2008
“Peace be with you.” John 20

Catholic Charities story: Grace was grieving the cancer death of her 40 year old daughter, and while depressed and overwhelmed by her loss, she was suddenly raising two teenage grandchildren. The girls, too, were grieving and could not manage their school work. The Kinship Resource Center case manager referred Grace to the Center for Living with Dying and the teens to a mental health agency. She then helped Grace obtain legal guardianship for the girls. After 5 months of intensive case management, both young women are doing well in school, and Grace reports that her stress levels have decreased significantly.

Catholic Charities opportunity: For information about “kinship families” (grandparents, aunts, uncles, or siblings raising family member children) and the available resources, contact Marina Hurtado, (408) 325-5164, mhurtado [at] ccsj [dot] org. In May visit the KRC new location at Paseo Senter, 1900 Senter Road in San Jose near Saint Maria Goretti church.

Friday, March 21, 2008

A Good Friday Reflection

The following is a reflection presented by Diana Macalintal at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph, in San Jose on Good Friday, 2007.


Is there anything beautiful about suffering?

Year after year, for two thousand years, millions of people around the world gather on this day to commemorate the suffering and torture of one man. Why is his pain and agony so attractive to us?


O sacred head surrounded by crown of piercing thorn
O bleeding head so wounded, reviled and put to scorn.
No comeliness or beauty your wounded face betrays.
Yet angel hosts adore you and tremble as they gaze.

A 12th century mystic named Bernard of Clairvaux wrote those words as he meditated upon the image of the dying face of Christ. What is it about this human, fragile, bloody face that makes even the angels tremble?

On a fall day in October, 2006, I think the angels trembled.

On that day, in a small town named Paradise, Charles Roberts entered an Amish schoolhouse at around 10:00 AM carrying a shotgun, a handgun, wires, chains, nails, and flexible plastic ties which he would use to bind the arms and legs of his hostages. He ordered the hostages to line up against the chalkboard and sent away from the classroom a pregnant woman, three parents with infants, and all 15 male students. The gunman, a father of three children, remained inside the school house with the remaining ten female students. The youngest was six; the oldest was 13.

The first police officers arrived about ten minutes later and attempted to communicate with Charles through the PA system in their cars. Charles ordered the police to pull back, and if they didn’t within two seconds, he would begin firing. They did not comply, and he began shooting.

Charles killed three girls, and then he shot himself. Two more girls died the next morning. The youngest victim was six. The other five girls were in critical condition.

News reports stated that most of the girls were shot “execution-style” in the back of the head. But according to Janice Ballenger, the deputy coroner in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, she counted at least two dozen bullet wounds in one child alone before asking a colleague to continue for her. Inside the school, she said, “there was not one desk, not one chair, in the whole schoolroom that was not splattered with either blood or glass. There were bullet holes everywhere, everywhere.”

There is nothing beautiful about this. Suffering, pain, and death are not God’s will for us, nor was it the Father’s will for his Son, Jesus. Just as on that day on Golgotha, heaven surely must have wept on that morning in Pennsylvania.

The angels wept. But the next part of the story is what made them tremble. What happened next could only have been the will of God, for no human could have done this alone.

Barbie Fisher was one of the girls who survived the massacre. She told the story of how her sister, Marian, the oldest hostage in that school room, had begged Charles to shoot her first so that he might spare the younger girls. So he did. After seeing her sister shot, Barbie asked Charles to shoot her next. She received bullet wounds in her hand, leg, and shoulder.

Two days later, the grandfather of Marian stood in their home with her lifeless body laid on her bed being prepared for her burial. He called over the youngest of his family to come and stand next to Marian. Speaking to all those in the room, he looked intently at the children and told them, “We must not think evil of this man.”

Later that day, a reporter asked this weary, grey-bearded grandfather, “Have you forgiven this man who killed your granddaughter?” He turned his face away from the camera not wanting the attention. “Yes,” he replied. “How can you do that?” the reporter asked. “With God’s help,” he answered.


Yet angel hosts adore you and tremble as they gaze.

What made the angels tremble was love—absolute, complete, love.

Here at the cross, we encounter the ultimate revelation of God’s love. It is where God proves that God will do anything for us, even die, no matter what we do, just so he could love us. God takes this instrument of torture and death and turns it into a throne of mercy and grace. God takes defeat and despair and turns it into triumph. God takes the death of one and turns it into life for all.

At the cross, God takes our pain, our desperation, our horror, our hate, our confusion, our fear, places it all onto a cross and transforms it into beauty, truth, and goodness. God takes death and turns it into forgiveness, mercy, and peace.

That grandfather and the Amish community attended the funeral of Charles Roberts who killed five of their own. They took in his widow and their three children into their own families. They helped them pay for Charles’ funeral expenses and have even begun a fund to support the killer’s family now that they are left with no father.

The cross given to that community and their response to it doesn’t make sense, does it? How can something so heinous, something so ugly turn into something so beautiful? Because God is God…and God is Love…and the act of the cross is no longer a matter of reason and logic, but a matter of love.

We who follow Christ do not shy away from the pain and suffering of the world. As Jesus did, we embrace it with open arms. On this day, most especially, when we gather to tell the story of Jesus’ passion and death, we stare it in the face together, we do not look away, and we respond—as best we can, trembling not with human fear and hatred but with the incomprehensible, immense love of God.


***

Sometimes, try as hard as we might, we can look into the pain and suffering of this world, of our own lives, and not see the beauty. The ugliness can be so unbearable that we can’t see or feel God’s love.

At these moments, it’s so easy to lose hope and despair. But there is another choice.

Maria Thompson is a spiritual director in Seattle who counsels people who are grieving because of death or loss. She describes her work like this: “Standing at death’s door is the most intimate and sacred space to stand. It is an act of being, not an act of doing.” She continues, “I am a person who stands at death’s door; that is my job. I am a person who helps people in the darkness of death find the movement of eternal life. So, I sit on the ash heaps. Patiently. As long as they need me to, that is where I sit.” (from Presence manuscript)

When we face the cross and promise to remain there “in the ash heaps,” no matter how absent God seems, we also enter into a promise with each other—a promise to bear the cross together. For the cross requires relationship.

For Christians, relationship is always the cross—the intersection, the interaction, the giving and taking, the forgiving and sacrifice—between people and between God and God’s people. The cross is a struggle of opposites and differences—but a struggle that gives birth to new life, to new and renewed relationship.

In Jewish tradition, the very act of creation was born out of the relationship between God and Chaos. Listen tomorrow night to the first reading. In the beginning was God, and there with God was nothingness. The union between God—the fullness of all there is—and nothingness gave birth to life, night and day, earth and water, plants and humans. And our whole life through, we are constantly placing before God all of our nothingness and asking God to again make something new out of it.

When Christ was nailed to the cross, what was born out of that union between God and all that was not God was the Church—us—people who look upon death and see life; people who experience pain together and offer in return love.

As offspring then of Christ, our first task is to acknowledge the radical love of God by having the confidence to approach this throne of grace and pray for each other, even if our prayer is only, “My God.”

The Church makes its most intense prayers on this day. Later this afternoon, after hearing again the story of God’s love nailed to the cross, our Bishop will lead us in the Great Intercessions which are prayed only today. These are ten solemn prayers for the world in which we ask God, through supplication and silence, kneeling and raised arms, to take the world’s chaos and re-create it anew. It is the Church’s way of being there, in hope where there’s only despair, in faith when it feels as if death has won.


***

Now you might want to stand back, because I’m not sure if what I’m about to say will cause me to be struck down by lightning.

I don’t like the song, Were You there? I think it’s a lovely song and nice to sing. But every time I hear that opening line—“Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”—all I can say is, “Nope!”

No, I wasn’t there at Golgotha thousands of years ago. No, I didn’t see him nailed to the tree. No, I didn’t see him laid in the tomb.

But I do tremble.

Because I am here in 2007 in San Jose, and God knows there are enough people today being crucified right before our eyes. You only have to turn on your TV, or log onto the Internet, or go to work, or step out your door, or even just wake up in the morning.

There are people right now out there, in here, who are being nailed to trees of depression and abuse, to debt and divorce. We know real people, maybe it’s even you, who are being sealed up in tombs of unemployment, cancer, loneliness, who suffer a slow death because of the inability to forgive or to ask for forgiveness. Our world is still, after four years, being crucified to the cross of war, our Church is still being nailed to a tree of scandal and secrecy, our cities and homes are still being buried by violence, poverty, broken families, and broken hearts.

No, I don’t need to go back to Calvary to be where Jesus is crucified. Calvary is right here, right now.

But so is the resurrection. When any of us take up the cross of Christ, we proclaim our faith in his resurrection.

But what is the cross? What is your cross?

Bishop Kenneth Untener once said that the cross is that to which we say, “Anything, Lord. I’ll do anything…but that.”

That that is the cross. It’s the thing that you can’t imagine doing because you’ve been hurt too much, because you’ve been betrayed, because you’re too angry, because it feels just too good to hang on to bitterness, because you’re too busy, because you’re too scared. “Anything, Lord. I’ll do anything…but that.”

The reason we remember the day Jesus died at the Place of the Skull is because on that cross—on Jesus’ “anything-by-that”—we learn the way to resurrection, because when we embrace Christ and his cross, we never embrace it alone. We embrace the cross together, with this community. It is through individual people that we see up close the body of Christ for ourselves. But it’s through the community—when we gather to tremble at the love of God and offer our meager, imperfect prayers—that we receive strength and faith enough to live as the body of Christ for the world.

It’s hard to follow Christ; it’s hard to embrace the cross. Tomorrow night thousands of people around the world who have decided to follow Christ will stand at the edge of a dark black pool of water, a deep chasm of nothingness, and just before they are submerged into that abyss, they will be asked, “Do you believe in God, in Jesus, in the Spirit?”

I guess it would be pretty easy for them and for us to say “I do.” But if we heard those words for what they really mean, we all might hesitate in our response. Those seemingly-simple questions mean this: “Will you proclaim God’s justice even in the midst of persecution?” “Will you welcome the stranger?” “Will you follow the example of the saints and martyrs who gave their lives for the faith?” “Will you allow yourself to be nailed upon your anything-but-that?”

If we and those preparing to be baptized tomorrow night dare to say, “Yes, I believe,” we really have no choice but to love, but to serve, but to give our all. We have no choice but to give our lives to the poor, the weak, the sinner, the criminal, the adulteress, the tax collector, the unwed mother, the AIDS victim, the drug addict, the homeless man, the coworker who annoys us, the father who abused us, the friend who betrayed us, the stranger who scares us, the person who terrorizes us, the person who is most unlike us.

For on Good Friday, we do not pretend that Christ is not risen. We stand here before the cross and bow low before it precisely because we know and believe that Christ is risen. We venerate this instrument of death, embrace it with trembling hands, and kiss it with timid lips precisely because we believe that the cross is not a dead end, but a sign pointing to God who is the source of our salvation and the community in which God lives.

The Spirit that was breathed upon us from the cross when Jesus commended his spirit into the hands of the Father drives us to turn to each other—to turn to those who are not our mother and take them into our lives as if they were our own. That Spirit of Christ calls us to turn toward those who are not our children and to call them our own beloved. That Spirit of Christ handed over to us moves us to search out those who were the friends of Christ—the sinner, the diseased, the stranger, the outcast—bend down to wash their feet, embrace them and call them friend, and even lay down our very lives for them, our friends.

Behold the Cross on which hung our salvation.
Come, let us adore.

Friday, March 07, 2008

Determining the Date of Easter

DETERMINING THE DATE OF EASTER

by Brother John M. Samaha, S.M.
reprinted with permission


People often puzzle over the different dates on which Easter is celebrated. The different dates are determined by the different calendars used for reckoning Easter.

Biblical Background
In the Old Testament, the Jews celebrated the feast of Passover, or Pasch, in remembrance of their deliverance from Egypt. The Book of Exodus, chapter 12, tells the story.

Thereafter the celebration of Passover was begun on the fourteenth day of Nisan (Abib), the Paschal full moon following the spring equinox (Leviticus 23:5-8; Deuteronomy 16:1-8). Spring equinox is when day and night are equal.

The Jewish calendar, however, since it was a lunar calendar consisting of twelve or thirteenth months per year, caused difficulties in determining the day of the spring equinox. Consequently, Passover celebrations would begin on the full moon of either March or April of the Julian calendar.

The Gospel of St. John explicitly states that the death of Jesus coincided with the Paschal celebrations of the Jewish people (John 13:1; 19:31).

Early Christian History
The Christians in Asia Minor, Caesarea, Syria, and Mesopotamia observed Easter on the first day of the Jewish Passover. But the Christians in Rome and Egypt celebrated Easter on the Sunday after the Jewish Passover.

Pope St. Anicetus (155-166) supported the celebration of Easter on the Sunday after the Jewish Pasch. Pope St. Victor (189-198) upheld this practice.

Controversy ensued, and Pope St. Sylvester I resolved the matter at the first ecumenical council at Nicaea, Asia Minor, in 325. The general council decreed that Easter be celebrated on the first Sunday following the Paschal full moon after the spring equinox.

The Julian Calendar
From that time for 1,247 years Easter was celebrated on the same Sunday in the entire Christian Church -- East and West. According to the Julian calendar, March 21 was considered the day of the spring equinox in the Roman Empire.

Eventually the inaccuracies of the Julian calendar witnessed Christians in the sixteenth century celebrating Easter on different Sundays.

In 46 B.C. Julius Caesar had originated the Julian calendar. The astronomers of his time calculated the solar year to have 365 days and six hours. Every fourth year became a leap year with 366 days. This was remarkably close, but each year was too long by 11 minutes and 14 seconds. This small difference accumulated to one day in 128 years. In addition the astronomers figured that the moon cycle of 19 years was exact, that is, that the full moon returned to the identical day and hour after 19 years. However, the cycle was too long by one hour and 29 minutes. This difference amounted to one day in 308 years. By the sixteenth century astronomers were alarmed that the Julian calendar was out of congruence with the seasons of the years by ten days, and with the cycles of the moon by four days.

The Gregorian Calendar
In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII asked the leading astronomers to correct these inaccuracies, and he proclaimed some changes in the Julian calendar. Regarding the solar year ten days were dropped from the calendar, and that year October 5 became October 15. In the future three leap years would be omitted every 400 years. To rectify the moon cycle the calendar full moon was drawn back four days. In the future the calendar full moons were to be drawn back one day eight times in 25 centuries. With these reforms the Julian calendar was brought very close to the astronomical solar year and the astronomical moon cycle.

The Gregorian calendar took its name from Pope Gregory XIII, who proclaimed it to the world.

The Catholic countries of Europe quickly accepted the new Gregorian calendar: Italy, France, Poland, Spain, and Portugal. The Protestant countries—Germany, England (including North America), Denmark, Sweden, Norway—adopted it about 200 years later. The non-Christian countries of Japan, China, Siam (Thailand), Turkey, Egypt, etc., accepted it about 350 years later. The Orthodox countries—Greece, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, and the patriarchates of Constantinople, Antioch, and Alexandria—adopted it in the twentieth century in civil and historic matters only. They still observe religious feasts (Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, etc.) according to the Julian calendar. This divergence can place the celebrations of Easter as much as five weeks apart.

In determining the date of Easter the discrepancy between the Julian and Gregorian calendars grows each year.

Conclusion
Easter is early this year, 2008. Actually it can be one day earlier, March 22; but that rarely happens. This year is the earliest Easter we will experience in our lifetime.

The next time Easter will be this early, March 23, will be in 2228. The last time it was this early was 1913.

The next time Easter falls a day earlier, March 22, will be in 2285. The last time it was celebrated on March 22 was in 1818.

But what is really important is that Christ is risen. He is truly risen.

Good Friday Intercession for the Diocese of San José

Bishop Patrick McGrath asks that the following intercession be added to the General Intercessions for the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday, March 21, 2008.

This intercession has been formatted to match the pattern (either sung or spoken) of the intercessions that are found in the Sacramentary. Please translate this prayer as needed for Good Friday celebrations in other languages.


XI. For Special Needs

For all who suffer from war, violence, or terrorism, that God will give them courage and strength; that those who serve their nations in the military will return safely to their homes. [Pause]

Let us pray.

O God, you are the source of the hopes and dreams of the people that you have made. Watch over our world, and lead us in the ways of life and peace, that all may serve you in love. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

For your Laetare week: simple laughter



*Someone emailed this video to me, but beware of other versions of this video floating around the Internet. The one emailed to me had a Web address that sent you to a not so innocent site. Thankfully, I found the version above without the tricky little url.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Calling all Singers - Upcoming Diocesan Liturgies

Image hosted by Photobucket.comCalling all singers! We've begun the diocese's busy season of liturgies. And for each of these, we need music ministers to assist with singing in the Diocesan Choir. Look at the dates below and see if you would be able to share your skills.


Chrism Mass
Choir Rehearsal:
Monday, March 10, 2008, 7:00p - 9:00p

Celebration:
Tuesday, March 11, 2008, 7:30p


Neophyte Mass
Choir Rehearsal:
Saturday, April 5, 2008, 3:45p - 4:30p

Celebration:
Saturday, April 5, 2008, 4:30p


Ordination to the Diaconate
Ordination to the Priesthood
Choir Rehearsal:
Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 7:00p - 9:00p
Tuesday, May 20, 2008, 7:00p - 9:00p

Celebrations:
Diaconate: Saturday, May 17, 2008, 9:30a
Priesthood: Saturday, May 24, 2008, 9:30a


Confirmation of Adults
Choir Rehearsal:
Sunday, May 11, 2008, 2:00p - 3:00p

Celebration:
Sunday, May 11, 2008, 3:00p


All rehearsals will be in Loyola Hall, the parish hall of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph (80 South Market Street, San José).

People interested in participating in any of these events can contact Julie Wind at (408) 283-8100 x2205.

Catechumenate Support Group - March 6, 2008

We're down to the wire now and waiting for Easter! Are your Elect ready to take the plunge?

As you know, all our work doesn't end with initiation at the Easter Vigil. Everything we do is geared toward training disciples for mission! What are we training the catechumens to do? It's no less than making the Reign of God more visible in our world.

At our next Catechumenate Support Group, we'll look at ways to train the catechumens in the works of justice and a lifetime of discipleship. As part of our discussion, we will see up close one group that is making the Reign of God very visible in downtown San José.

Everyone who attends the meeting will receive a FREE photocopiable bulletin insert on Mystagogy to be given to the assembly. Get some practical answers to these and your other questions at the next Catechumenate Support Group Meeting.


Catechumenate Support Group Meeting
"Initiated Into Mission"

Thursday, March 6, 2008
12:30p – 2:00p



The Center is behind the Biblioteca,
and the parking lot is behind the Wienerschnitzel.

RSVP with Bernard Nemis at 408-983-0126
or online here


Other Catechumenate Support Group dates for the year:
  • Thursday, April 3, 2008, 7:00p – 8:30p, location tba
  • Thursday, June 5, 2008, 7:00p – 8:30p, potluck dinner, location tba

Parish representatives for Chrism Mass 2008

Three representatives from each parish are requested to present the oils for blessing during the Chrism Mass on Tuesday, March 11, 2008, at 7:30p. They should be selected in advance for this responsibility and be seated in their reserved seats in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph, 80 South Market Street, San José, by 7:10p.

Click here for a seating chart (PDF) showing each parish's reserved seats for their oil representative.

Please note that a $5 flat fee is now charged at all downtown public parking lots after 6:00p. Other private parking lots may charge more. Parking on the street is still free after 6:00p.

It is recommended that those presenting the oils represent some link to the oil to be blessed, for example:

  • Oil of the Sick: A minister to the sick, elderly, or hospitalized; or a parishioner who was anointed in the last year.

  • Oil of Catechumens: A parish catechumenate team member; or a catechist working in baptismal preparation. Because the dismissal of catechumens follows immediately after the procession and blessing of oils, catechumens and Elect are discouraged from being the parish representative to carry the oils.

  • Sacred Chrism: A neophyte initiated at last year’s Easter Vigil; or a candidate for Confirmation; or a catechist working in Confirmation preparation. Because the dismissal of catechumens follows immediately after the procession and blessing of oils, catechumens and Elect are discouraged from being the parish representative to carry the oils.

If you have any questions, please contact Diana Macalintal at 408-983-0136.